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Watford man arrested on firearm charges

Posted 1/22/14 (Wed)

By Stephanie NormanFarmer Staff Writer

Watford City resident James Terry Henrikson, 34, was arrested Saturday, Jan. 18, in Mandan, N.D., on federal firearm charges. Agents from Homeland Security Investigations and the Bismarck/Mandan Metro Area Narcotics Task Force made the arrest. Henrikson is charged with being a felon in possession of several firearms by Criminal Complaint, in the United States District Court, District of North Dakota. A Criminal Complaint is the method by which a person is charged with criminal activity and raises no inference of guilt.
Last week, Henrikson’s home at 505 17th Ave. NE in Watford City was raided by the FBI, but he was nowhere to be found at the time.
Henrikson is a person of interest in the investigation of the Doug Carlile murder, which occurred on Dec. 15, in Spokane, Wash. Henrikson’s ex-business partner, Carlile, was shot multiple times in the chest at his three-story home in Washington. On Jan. 14, Spokane police arrested Timothy Suckow, 50, of Spokane, on a first-degree murder charge, after they linked him through DNA sampling to a glove left at the scene of the murder.
Evidence suggests Suckow may have been hired to kill Carlile, with unpaid debts being the motivation for the contract killing. Hours after Carlile was murdered, Henrikson was questioned by authorities over the phone. He denied killing Carlile, but did mention that Carlile owed him nearly $2 million.
According to the Spokane Police Department reports, Carlile and Henrikson were introduced about two years ago, at which time they and two other men, John Wark and Bill Curtiss, all invested into two businesses in the oil fields of North Dakota.
One business, Bridgewater Energy, is a trucking company to haul water and oil from well sites. The other business is Kingdom Dynamics Enterprise, which is an oilfield development company.
Carlile recruited investors for Kingdom Dynamics in order to purchase mineral rights on 640 acres on the MHA Nations Reservation. Henrikson and his wife, Sarah Creveling, each invested a few hundred thousand dollars. Part of the deal was that Henrikson would receive $1.2 million after the oil field began producing in exchange for his original investment.
During the phone conversation between Henrikson and the detective working the case hours after the murder, Henrikson admitted to being aware of Carlile’s death. He said they had an oil lease together and he was angry with Carlile, but denied ever threatening him. The police report states, “Henrikson said he did not kill Carlile and does not know why someone would hurt him.”
This is not the first go-around Henrikson has had with the law. He has a lengthy list of wrongdoings with the law in multiple states.
Kristopher D. Clarke, ex-operations manager of Blackstone, another company in North Dakota Henrikson owned, disappeared in February 2012 after an argument with Henrikson about money.
Clarke claimed Henrikson owed him $600,000, but refused to pay, so Clarke decided to quit his job with Blackstone and take Blackstone’s subcontractors with him. Henrikson did not like this.
The last time anyone saw Clarke was during the time of the argument with Henrikson near New Town, N.D. After his disappearance, a special agent asked Henrikson to take a lie detector test, but he refused. The body of Clarke has never been found. Because there is no concrete evidence linking Henrikson to the disappearance, he is not at fault.
Henrikson is not arrested for involvement with the Carlile murder investigation nor is he serving time for the disappearance of Clarke. He is currently in jail for illegally having multiple firearms in his possession.
“The arrest of James Henrikson on allegations of illegal possession of firearms by a convicted felon should reassure the citizens of the oil patch that federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement are committed to working together to keep western North Dakota safe,” United States Attorney for North Dakota Timothy Purdon said. “I want to commend the hardworking and skilled agents who investigated this case and arrested the defendant without incident.”
This joint investigation was shared by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Internal Revenue Service, the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and the McKenzie County Sheriff’s Office.